Undergraduate research showcased at national conference

Dylan Ziegler has had an impressively busy spring. The fourth year biology student first tackled the Undergraduate Research and Innovation Conference in March, where he presented a poster and delivered a lecture. That conference went so well, he was encouraged to take his poster to the BC Regional Undergraduate Research Conference hosted by the University of the Fraser Valley in April, where he won the Associate Vice President of Research, Engagement and Graduate Studies Award for his poster, “An ace in the hole: Scanning electron microscopy reveals that stomata may play a role in explosive seed discharge.”

The poster was a result of the research he conducted throughout the summer of 2015 as part of a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Undergraduate Student Research Award.

Success at these two conferences inspired him to submit his poster for exhibit at the Canadian Botanical Association Conference, which was held at the University of Victoria in May.

“It was really interesting and worthwhile. The first two conferences were focused on undergraduate research, but at the Canadian Botanical Association conference there was a real focus on graduate research,” said Ziegler, who is also an Undergraduate Research Ambassador at TRU.

What is an Undergraduate Research Ambassador?
Ambassadors promote undergraduate research, scholarship and creative inquiry, and provide support to other undergraduate students who wish to pursue research. Ambassadors advise students, deliver public talks, workshops and orientation activities, and work as part of a team to participate in a community-engaged research project.  

Ziegler is working with his supervisor to publish his original research exploring the external development of the female dwarf mistletoe through the use of the scanning electron microscope. Publishing in a scientific journal as an undergraduate is a huge achievement, said Dr. Cindy Ross Friedman.

“It acts as a calling card, and makes it far more likely that you can get funding for graduate school,” she said.

Ziegler has already completed his honours thesis, and will spend a fifth year at TRU completing an Undergraduate Research Experience Award Project (UREAP) that aims to expand our understanding of plant physiology through the use of genomic tools.

His goal is to then move on to graduate school.

Ross Friedman has no doubt that Ziegler will find success wherever he goes.

“The whole idea of being able to pursue knowledge and to contribute to the frontiers of knowledge really does prepare you as a student for all your future endeavours.”